Social Work E-News #98, January 13, 2009

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Don’t Miss—“DSM: Guess the Diagnosis” Chat TONIGHT, January 13, 9 p.m. Eastern Time at http://www.socialworkchat.org

Welcome to Issue #98 of the Social Work E-News. This e-mail newsletter is brought to you by the publisher of THE NEW SOCIAL WORKER magazine, SocialWorker.com, SocialWorkJobBank.com, and other social work publications.

January marks the observance of National Birth Defects Prevention Month, National Blood Donor Month, Glaucoma Awareness Month, and Cervical Health Awareness Month.

Also, this month marks Martin Luther King Jr. Day on January 19, followed by the much-awaited inauguration of President-Elect Barack Obama the next day, on January 20.

You can now go to http://www.socialworker.com/home/menu/Subscribe/ and subscribe (free) to receive an e-mail reminder and table of contents of each issue of THE NEW SOCIAL WORKER magazine when it is available.

In the Winter 2009 issue of THE NEW SOCIAL WORKER, we continue our series on social work and the arts. Also, I am excited to announce that in this issue, we are introducing our new student columnist, T.J., who will write the “An MSW Student’s Life” column. See her first column at: http://www.socialworker.com/home/Feature_Articles/Professional_Development_%26_Advancement/An_MSW_Student%27s_Life%3A_Winter_2009/

You can read THE NEW SOCIAL WORKER’s new blog at: http://blog.socialworker.com – T.J. and I are both posting on the blog. Please be sure to leave your comments. You can also subscribe to receive new blog posts by e-mail or in a feed reader.

The Social Work E-News now has 25,000+ subscribers, and thousands of social workers (and people interested in social work) visit our Web sites. If you like our Web sites, The New Social Worker, and the Social Work E-News, help us spread the word! Tell a friend, student, or colleague to visit us at http://www.socialworker.com, where they can download a PDF copy of the magazine, become our fan on Facebook, participate in discussions, and lots more.

At the University of Washington, you can fit a professional education in social work from a top-ranked program into your demanding schedule. Designed as a three-year, part-time curriculum with evening and weekend courses, our Extended Degree Program gives you the flexibility you need to earn your Master of Social Work degree from the University of Washington School of Social Work, ranked as one of the nation’s top social work programs by U.S. News and World Report.

Demand for social workers who are prepared to address the needs of diverse groups is growing. That’s why our Extended Degree Program now offers two distinct concentrations, one focused on children, families, and multigenerational practice, and one focused on health and mental health.

Powerful Coaching for Social Workers/Mental Health Practitioners … The National Association of Social Workers (NASW) has approved Life Potentials Training — created and offered by the Institute for Professional Empowerment Coaching (iPEC) — for 27 continuing education contact hours (CECs)!

A special teleseminar on January 20th will give you the chance to learn how this training, which teaches iPEC's Core Energy Coaching process, success theories, and empowerment principles, is valuable for social workers and mental health practitioners. Why? Not only is coaching a complementary and powerful skill set to add to your present training and expertise, but it can also help you establish a private practice generating fees from $150 - $300 an hour while working predominantly with clients who want to reach new heights and partner with you to get them there. Hosted by Francine Carter, a Licensed Clinical Social Worker, Certified Empowerment Coach, and Professional Credentialed Coach, you'll get all your questions answered, from how coaching compares to therapy, what the credentialing requirements are, what the Core Energy Coaching process is, and much more.

NEED BOOKS OR GIFTS? The publisher of THE NEW SOCIAL WORKER has some great books that make great holiday or graduation gifts, for yourself or someone else. Give the gift of Days in the Lives of Social Workers, The Social Work Graduate School Applicant’s Handbook, or our other social work and nonprofit management titles.

All of our books are available through our new secure online ordering system at:

Editor’s Note: With the Winter 2009 issue, we welcome T.J. Rutherford, our new MSW student columnist! T.J. will share her experiences with us through this column and through our new blog at http://blog.socialworker.com.

I’ll always remember the day I gave in to my calling. A co-worker was in trouble with alcohol, drugs, and an abusive partner. I found myself, for what seemed the millionth time in my 49 years, counseling someone who needed help. After I referred her to the appropriate professionals, I walked back to my desk at the city magazine where I am an editor, and something inside me clicked.

For the first time, I got it. More importantly, I gave myself permission to do something about it. Growing up in an alcoholic, dysfunctional family environment, I had always run fast and far from the field of social work. I wanted to forget about it, not jump into the middle of it. I chose journalism as my undergraduate degree, and it has served me well for many years.

Over the years, however, I was pulled into the social work field. I worked in an alcohol and drug treatment center as an admissions specialist, and I worked for the Governor’s Commission for a Drug-Free Indiana as a community organizer.

That defining moment in December 2007 set me onto a whole new path. From the moment I made a decision to speak with the department head of the master’s social work program, doors began to fly open. Before long, I was filling out applications; scheduling, studying for, and taking the GRE; and registering for my first classes.

Reviewed by Kate Alson, ACSW, MSW

The Therapist’s Starter Guide: Setting Up and Building Your Practice, Working with Clients, and Managing Professional Growth is one of the more comprehensive books out there that I’ve seen on this subject. Whereas other books focus on the considerations of building a private practice, or becoming a successful therapist without burning out, this book effectively talks about both topics in conjunction. It is a paperback and is a hefty 335 pages, with an additional 10 pages of useful references and a helpful 12-page subject index.

The authors describe the main purpose of the book as “to provide new psychotherapists with a means of transitioning from graduate student interns to working practitioners at the start of their career” (preface, p. xiv). I agree that it may also be helpful to those mental health practitioners or clinical social workers who are in the first few years of private practice, and for those who wish to revitalize their practices. A regular gripe heard from fellow clinical social workers in private practice is that graduate schools of social work did not adequately prepare them for the business of private practice. The book may be used by social work educators to give a taste of what lies ahead, should the students choose the path of private practice.

The guide is divided into three sections. The first section is about how to set up and build your practice and includes information on purpose, ethical and legal issues, and the importance of documentation. The second section focuses on working with clients, including the therapeutic relationship; client interactions; understanding the change process; and the beginning, middle, and end of treatment. It covers working with common therapy themes and with challenging cases, managing adverse events, and understanding medications and the effect of medical conditions. Section three deals with managing professional growth, mentorship, burnout and vicarious trauma, clients’ influence on the therapist’s development, and finding the clinician’s niche.

One week from today, President-Elect Barack Obama will be sworn in as President of the United States. What are your hopes for the new administration? What effects do you think our new president will have on social work, social workers, and social work clients? The New Social Worker would like to hear your comments. Also, if you are attending the inauguration, let us know about your experience. Please post your comments on the “7 Days” post on The New Social Worker’s blog at: http://blog.socialworker.com/2009/01/7-days.html

NASW, the Presidential Inauguration, and Martin Luther King, Jr. Day of Service

President-Elect Barack Obama and Vice President-Elect Joe Biden have included the Martin Luther King, Jr. day of service as part of their inauguration events. Events are occurring around the country. The National Association of Social Workers (NASW) has suggested several ways social workers can participate:

Sign up for Give An Hour
NASW is hosting a virtual event, encouraging social workers who are licensed and practicing clinically to go to http://www.giveanhour.org and sign up. You will commit to donating one hour of your time to provide critical mental health services to U.S. troops and their family members.

Let NASW know you will participate in the virtual event by going to http://pic2009.org/page/event/detail/dayofservicejanuary19/wpl#rsvp and replying.

Create your own event
You may already have an event you are hosting on this day, or you may want to create your own event. You can go to http://pic2009.org/page/event/create to list your event on the inauguration Web site so others can sign up to help out.

Attend an event in your community
Go to http://pic2009.org/page/event/search_simple to find a list of events occurring close to your location. Choose one and RSVP that you will attend.

When you sign up and after you participate, NASW would like to hear about your experience at http://www.socialworkblog.org/pressroom.

Colin Powell Announces President-Elect Obama’s Call to National Service

Washington D.C. –General Colin Powell, USA (Ret) and the Presidential Inaugural Committee announced President-Elect Obama’s plans to call on Americans to serve their communities on the King Holiday and throughout the year.

As part of his “Renew America Together” initiative, the President-Elect wants to ignite the spirit of service in our nation by asking all Americans to make a lasting pledge to serve their communities.

“At this moment of great purpose and great promise, President-Elect Obama is calling on all Americans to make an ongoing commitment to serve their communities and their country,” said Powell. “The Martin Luther King Jr. Federal Holiday is not only a day off, but also for the last 14 years, it has been a day on. It’s a day to reach out to our fellow citizens in need.”

Powell unveiled http://www.usaservice.org, a new Web site created by the Presidential Inaugural Committee where Americans can find volunteer opportunities for the January 19 King Holiday or sign up to host a local event. Nearly 5,000 events are already listed on the site.

Powell commended the many organizations that are planning King Day of Service projects, including the Corporation for National and Community Service, the federal agency charged by Congress in 1994 with transforming the King Holiday into a national day of service. The Corporation has been working closely with the Presidential Inaugural Committee for the past month on the Web site and larger effort to call Americans to service.

For the past fourteen years, the Corporation has worked with the King Center (http://www.thekingcenter.org) in Atlanta and nonprofit, education, corporate, and community groups across the country to organize projects on the King holiday. The agency encourages its large network of AmeriCorps, Senior Corps, and Learn and Serve America programs to lead or participate in King Day of Service projects.

Roxanna Garcia Marcus, a former AmeriCorps member with City Year, shared her personal journey of service. Marcus is one of tens of thousands of AmeriCorps members and alums who are taking part in this year’s King Day of Service.

“If there is one common experience I wish for every American, it’s to know the power of service – to have the opportunity to be a part of something larger than yourself and make a positive impact on your community. AmeriCorps gave me my opportunity.”

“In this time of great need, we need to reignite our nation’s spirit of service, starting on King Day and lasting throughout the year,” said Nicola Goren, the Corporation’s Acting CEO. “We salute President-Elect Obama, Colin Powell, and the Presidential Inaugural Committee for making service a centerpiece of the Inauguration and launching this broad call to service.”

In addition to asking Americans to serve, President-Elect Obama, Vice President-Elect Biden, and their families will participate in service on the holiday in the Washington D.C. area. The President-Elect’s service on the holiday continues a tradition started by President Clinton and continued by President Bush.

A wide variety of projects are being planned for the King Holiday, including delivering meals, refurbishing schools and community centers, collecting food and clothing, removing graffiti, reading to children, and more. Many organizations use the day as a springboard for year-round civic action, such as signing up mentors or tutors or youth taking pledges of nonviolence.

The Corporation for National and Community Service improves lives, strengthens communities, and fosters civic engagement through service and volunteering. Each year, the Corporation provides opportunities for four million Americans of all ages and backgrounds to serve their communities and country through Senior Corps, AmeriCorps, and Learn and Serve America. For more information, go to http://www.nationalservice.gov.

January is a difficult month for blood centers to collect blood donations, because of holidays, travel, inclement weather, and illness. Low turnout can put our nation’s blood inventory at a critical low.

The American Association of Blood Banks (AABB), in conjunction with America's Blood Centers and the American Red Cross, is celebrating National Blood Donor Month (NBDM) 2009 to encourage donors to give or pledge to give blood.

Every day, approximately 39,000 units of blood are required in U.S. hospitals and emergency treatment facilities for patients with cancer and other diseases, for organ transplant recipients, and to help save the lives of accident victims. The goal of National Blood Donor Month is to help ensure that blood is available to patients whenever and wherever it is needed.

If you are at least 17 years of age (some states permit younger people to donate with parental consent), weigh at least 110 pounds, and meet other donor requirements, you may be eligible to donate blood. Celebrate NBDM with AABB by donating blood and encouraging others to do so as well.

Find more jobs for new grads and experienced social work practitioners at http://www.socialworkjobbank.com, THE NEW SOCIAL WORKER’s online job board and career center. We are proud of the fact that this site was chosen as one of 350 (out of 40,000+ employment sites) to be included (for the third consecutive time) in Weddle’s Recruiter’s and Job Seeker’s Guide to Employment Web Sites 2007/2008. Post your confidential resume at http://jobs.socialworkjobbank.com/c/resumes/resumes.cfm?site_id=122

If you or your agency are hiring social workers, don’t forget to post your jobs on SocialWorkJobBank.com. Please check the SocialWorkJobBank “products/pricing” page at http://jobs.socialworkjobbank.com/r/jobs/post/index.cfm?site_id=122 for job posting options and SPECIAL offers.

Job seeker services are FREE—including searching current job openings, posting your confidential resume/profile, and receiving e-mail job alerts. Please let employers know that you saw their listings in the SOCIAL WORK E-NEWS and at SocialWorkJobBank.com.

As of this morning, there are 1,062 jobs currently posted on SocialWorkJobBank.com. Check it out today.

Gift From Within, a nonprofit organization for survivors of trauma and victimization, has several free Webcasts available on its Web site. The topics of the Webcasts include sexual abuse and assault, transition from military to civilian life, nightmares vs. flashbacks, trauma memories, and others. You can view these video Webcasts at: http://www.giftfromwithin.org/html/webcasts.html

Children's Bureau Express (CBX) covers news, issues, and trends of interest to professionals and policy makers in the interrelated fields of child abuse and neglect, child welfare, and adoption. Visit CBX to gain:

Connect with other social workers online! THE NEW SOCIAL WORKER magazine and the National Association of Social Workers have teamed up with the Social Work Forum to bring you SocialWorkChat.org, an online community of social workers offering twice-weekly online real-time chats on a variety of topics. The chats are held on Sunday and Tuesday nights at 9 p.m. Eastern Time. Upcoming chats include:

Registration is free! Chats will last about an hour. Check regularly for chat topics or sign up for e-mail reminders.

Have you been to SocialWorkJobBank.com lately? Well, now is the time to visit and learn about THE NEW SOCIAL WORKER’s online job board for professional social workers. This site is available to all social workers searching for employment opportunities. Check out the site’s new look today!

We recognize that searching for employment opportunities within our specialized niche can be time-consuming and frustrating. In providing this career center for our users, we are streamlining the process by focusing on our specific profession and offering jobs targeted to you.

The SocialWorkJobBank.com Career Center is easy to use and unique in its ability to

The SocialWorkJobBank.com Career Center is the perfect place to begin searching for your next employment opportunity. To access the career center to search through job listings, post your resume, and create job alerts, go to http://www.socialworkjobbank.com

We have some great offers to start out the new year. On our Products/Pricing page at http://jobs.socialworkjobbank.com/r/jobs/post/index.cfm?site_id=122 you can find all of our rates, packages, and special offers. These include a Buy One Get One Free January Special for 60-day job postings. Also, get a discount on your job postings with our January Savings Coupon. Employers, just use coupon code JAN09 when you check out, and you will receive 10% off the cost of your job posting order! This coupon expires 1/31/09.

15% Discount Now Available on THE NEW SOCIAL WORKER® Continuing Education Program

YOU DESERVE CREDIT! Now you can get it. Keep up with your profession (and get credit for it) with THE NEW SOCIAL WORKER.

We have partnered with CEU4U (http://www.ceu4u.com/tnsw) to provide online testing, so you can receive continuing education credit for reading your favorite magazine. Take THE NEW SOCIAL WORKER courses or ANY courses at http://www.ceu4u.com/tnsw and automatically receive a 15% discount.

Continuing education credit is available for the Winter 2006-Spring 2008 issues of THE NEW SOCIAL WORKER (2 hours/credit per issue).

The Journal of Social Work Values & Ethics, a free, online, peer-reviewed journal published by the publisher of THE NEW SOCIAL WORKER, now offers continuing education credit. Beginning with the Spring 2007 issue of the journal, you are able to read selected articles and then take an online exam and receive continuing education credit. See http://www.socialworker.com/jswve/content/view/57/52/ for complete details of this program.

CE credits for the Journal of Social Work Values & Ethics are offered in cooperation with CE-Credit.com. To see a complete listing of the 600+ courses that CE-Credit.com offers, go to: http://www.socialworker.com/cecredit.html

The Winter 2009 issue of THE NEW SOCIAL WORKER is now available to download in PDF format at: http://www.socialworker.com/home/component/remository/Download/TheNewSocialWorkerMagazine/TheNewSocialWorkerVol.16No.1(Winter2009)/

THE NEW SOCIAL WORKER’s Web site at http://www.socialworker.com includes the full text of many articles from past issues of the magazine. The current issue is featured on the site’s main page. The last several issues can be found under “Magazine Issues” on the top right column of the page. For selected full-text articles from issues prior to Spring 2006, click on “Feature Articles Archive” on the left side of the page. The magazine is also available for FREE download in PDF format.

Our online discussion forum/message board is a place for open discussion of a variety of social work-related issues. Join in our discussion at http://www.socialworker.com (click on the “Forum” link).

Be sure to check out http://www.ceu4u.com/tnsw for online continuing education offerings, including courses based on reading THE NEW SOCIAL WORKER magazine. Receive a 15% discount on all courses you take at: http://www.ceu4u.com/tnsw

The Journal of Social Work Values and Ethics is a free, online, peer-reviewed journal published by the publisher of THE NEW SOCIAL WORKER. It is published twice a year (with occasional special issues), in full text, online at: http://www.socialworker.com/jswve

Go to the journal Web site at http://www.socialworker.com/jswve to read this and other available issues. You can also sign up for a free subscription, and you will be notified by e-mail when each issue is available online.

* Browse our hand-picked selection of social issues posters at THE NEW SOCIAL WORKER’s Poster Store at http://www.socialworker.com/home/menu/Poster_Store/ or search for your own. (In association with AllPosters.com.)

* Social work specialty items: Visit http://www.cafepress.com/socialworker for our unique social work teddy bears, mugs, calendars, custom postage stamps, and other items.

White Hat Communications, publisher of THE NEW SOCIAL WORKER magazine and the Social Work E-News, has published several books about social work. These books make great gifts (for graduation or other occasions) for yourself, or for your friends, students, and colleagues in social work!

DAYS IN THE LIVES OF SOCIAL WORKERS: 54 Professionals Tell Real-Life Stories From Social Work Practice (3rd Edition), edited by Linda May Grobman

MORE DAYS IN THE LIVES OF SOCIAL WORKERS:35 Real-Life Stories of Advocacy, Outreach, and Other Intriguing Roles in Social Work Practice, edited by Linda May Grobman

DAYS IN THE LIVES OF GERONTOLOGICAL SOCIAL WORKERS: 44 Professionals Tell Stories From Real-Life Social Work Practice With Older Adults, edited by Linda May Grobman and Dara Bergel Bourassa.

THE SOCIAL WORK GRADUATE SCHOOL APPLICANT’S HANDBOOK: The Complete Guide to Selecting and Applying to MSW Programs (2nd Edition), by Jesus Reyes

THE FIELD PLACEMENT SURVIVAL GUIDE: What You Need to Know to Get the Most From Your Social Work Practicum, edited by Linda May Grobman

We also publish books on nonprofit management. Want to start your own agency? Check out the NEW edition of THE NONPROFIT HANDBOOK: Everything You Need to Know to Start and Run Your Nonprofit Organization (5th Edition), by Gary Grobman.

All of our books are available through our new secure online ordering system at:

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Copyright 2009 White Hat Communications. All rights reserved. Permission is granted to forward this entire newsletter, with all information intact, by e-mail to social work colleagues, students, and others interested in social work, for personal use only. You may also print out this newsletter for personal use. All other uses of this material require permission from the publisher at: linda.grobman@paonline.com